Sermon Tone Analysis

Review

Matthew 4:12-

Last week we looked at the beginning of Jesus’ earthly ministry, and we took a close look at the transition between the ministry of John the Baptist and that of Jesus.

If you remember we saw Jesus returning to the Jordan river several times after his baptism.

John sees him and declares, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.”

We saw Jesus’ first interactions with Peter and his brother Andrew while at the Jordan river with John.

We saw Jesus’ first interactions with Peter and his brother Andrew there at the Jordan river with John, and because of John’s words they follow Jesus back to where he is staying and presumably follow him eventually back to Galilee.

Jesus performs his first recorded miracle in Cana of Galilee while at a wedding party, turning water into wine, and when the time of the Passover arrives he heads back south to go up to Jerusalem.

It’s there Jesus famously drives out the money changers from within the temple, and after performing many signs before the people many believe in his name.

While still in Jerusalem a Pharisee named Nicodemus comes to Jesus by night and Jesus tells him that in order to enter the kingdom of God that one must be born again, or born from above.

That a person’s salvation is wholly of the Lord, that their spiritual birth is both God’s prerogative and God’s doing.

Jesus then moves out into the Judean countryside and by this time his followers have increased significantly in number.

So much so that John the Baptist, who is baptizing nearby, instructs his disciples and says, “He must increase, but I must decrease.”

Shortly after John is arrested and put in prison.

So Jesus travels back to Galilee and along the way encounters a Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well.

While speaking with her he reveals to her that he is indeed the Christ.

After hearing of Jesus the Samaritans at Sychar plead with Jesus to stay within them, and he does, for two days.

They exclaim, “…we know this is indeed the Savior of the world!”

Upon arriving at his hometown of Nazareth in Galilee Jesus is violently rejected.

They even attempt to throw him off a cliff, but he mysteriously passes through their midst and to moves to Capernaum.

It’s at this point Matthew connects Jesus to an OT text from Isaiah and shows us that he is like a great light to those people dwelling darkness, both to those in the region of Galilee and to the Gentiles, even today, like us, and it’s after this that we pickup in Mathew starting in verse 18 of chapter 4.

Jesus calls his disciples

If you’ll remember Capernaum is a city located on the north shore of the Sea of Galilee just west of Bethsaida where Andrew and Peter are from, along with James and John.

So while Jesus is walking by the Sea of Galilee he sees Peter and Andrew casting their net into the Sea.

This obviously isn’t the first time Jesus has met these men, in fact, it’s likely they have come to know Jesus quite well since their first encounter with him in Judea along the Jordan river.

I suspect they’re quite aware of who Jesus is as well the miraculous signs that follow him.

Now what I find exciting is that while Matthew here is very brief in his account of Jesus’ interaction with Andrew and Peter, Luke records in far greater detail what takes place between Jesus and his disciples.

So turn with me to Luke chapter 5 starting in verse 1,

Luke 5:1-

Now what we see here is that these texts are making two very important points.

The first is that Jesus tells them to follow him, and the second is that Jesus tells them that he will make them fishers of men.

So what I want to do this morning is look at both of these points and expand on them, what is it that Jesus was calling these men to do and what were the implications of his calling.

Follow Me

Effectual Calling

The first thing we notice in the text is that Jesus’ calling is effectual.

What do I mean by that?

I mean that when Jesus calls his disciples to himself they don’t hesitate, the Scriptures teach that they immediately left their nets and followed him (i.e. they came when he called).

This is a type of calling that is heart-changing and Spirit wrought, it’s a call that penetrates the stony hearts of men and it gives them a new heart that joyfully responds to God’s command.

And this internal call when coupled, or paired with the external, general call of God given to the whole world indiscriminately works effectually in the hearts of men.

It’s what we witness here with Jesus’ disciples.

And it’s the same reality that works in us as Christians, it’s the same call that brought us, as Christians, to faith in Christ, it’s the same call that causes men to repent of their sin and put their trust in Christ for salvation.

The general call

Now often times God’s general call to repent and to turn to Christ falls on deaf ears and on hard hearts that remain unchanged.

Men frequently do not humble themselves before God and receive the good news of the Gospel, but I pray that we would be like these disciples and immediately leave whatever it is we’re doing and follow after Jesus.

Follow Jesus

I pray that we would examine our lives and ask ourselves, “Is Jesus at the center of our dreams and of our ambitions?”

While it’s obvious that Jesus’ call for his disciples was also a call ultimately to ministry, that doesn’t mean that the rest of us aren’t called to set Christ at the center of our lives.

No, Jesus said, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.”

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Center our lives around Christ

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version.

(2016).

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Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.

We are to follow Christ in our educational pursuits, in our vocations, in our families and with our friends.

When we follow Jesus he becomes the ‘why’ behind everything that we do.

He personifies our dreams and our ambitions, he’s our King and our purpose for doing this or that.

He’s the reason we go one place or another.

He’s the reason we stay when it’s hard, he’s the reason we go when it’s uncertain.

He’s the reason we can and do endure suffering.

Glorifying God by loving and obeying him

Our love for our King motivates us toward one singular goal and passion, and that is to glorify him.

And how do we glorify him?

We do so by loving him and obeying him, by building his kingdom.

When we choose to build our own kingdoms over and above his kingdom this serves to simply demonstrate that we only love ourselves or someone other than Christ.

So I pray that we would embrace Christ and set him at the center of our lives.

Jesus has the right to direct our lives

You see what we’ve seen up to this point in the Gospel of Matthew is that Jesus is not only worth following, but he’s also has the right to direct our lives.

Matthew demonstrated to us in chapter 1 that Jesus is the promised son of David and son of Abraham.

He’s the seed of the woman foretold and hoped for in Genesis chapter 3. He’s the rightful king of Isreal, and the divine son of God who’s both truly man and truly God, a God-man who would save his people from their sins.

In chapter 2 we saw that Jesus is the true son of Isreal, the son that Israel could never be.

That this Jesus was a king born of the Jews worshipped by the Magi and to be worshipped by us.

In chapter 3 John announces that this Messiah is the savior of the world and that he is the righteous judge.

The heavens are opened, the Spirit descends upon Jesus and his Father bestows his love upon him.

This is the Jesus that the disciples leave everything behind to follow, and it’s the same Jesus we ought to leave everything behind to follow ourselves.

All things used in obedience to Christ

Now I don’t want to give anyone the wrong impression.

Many of us are called to the very professions we have today, and we rightfully responsible to the families God has given to us, but may all of those things find their rightful place and purpose subservient our call to follow Christ.

So again the first aim here in the text is not only to describe the response given by Jesus’ disciples to follow him, but to remind and even exhort us to do the same.

So again the first aim here in the text is not only to describe the response given by Jesus’ disciples to follow him, but to remind and even exhort us to do the same.

Now I said earlier that the second point of these passages is that Jesus tells his disciples that he will make them fishers of men.

Now we’ve seen from John’s Gospel account that this was not their first encounter with Jesus.

At least two of them had been disciples of John, both Andrew and Peter, and they lived and worked in the Bethsaida alongside James and John.

Fishers of Men

Matthew 4:18

Now I said earlier that the second point of these passages is that Jesus tells his disciples that he will make them fishers of men.

You see from this point on these men that Jesus has called to himself will follow him everywhere he goes.

They will listen to his teaching, Jesus will privately explain his teachings to them, they will witness the miracles that are performed by his hands, and they will be sent out periodically to put into practice Jesus’ instructions.

Luke 5:1-

Evangelism

Jesus is going to train his disciples to be fishers of men, he intends to make them evangelists.

That they will take the good news of his kingdom throughout the world.

In fact, it’s precisely what we read at the end of Matthew’s Gospel in chapter 28 starting in verse 16,

Matthew 28:16

“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.

And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Analogy of the net

Analogy of the net

Now this command isn’t only for his disciples this command is for all disciples of Christ.

The command to make disciples of all nations, teaching them to observe all that I Jesus has commanded is for all of us.

When Paul writes a letter to his protege in the faith, Timothy, he exhorts him to preach the word and to do the work of an evangelist.

So first of all it’s important that we realize that we are not only called to follow Jesus but we are also to called to be fishers of men as well.